JANUARY POWERSHEETS

I absolutely love the beginning of the year! I know there is nothing magical about January 1st, yet, I love the day so much. The fresh start, the turning of a page, it makes me giddy!

Before we move on to January goals, let's recap December. Unfortunately, December found my family very sick with COVID19. So many things we planned and normally do were cancelled or postponed. We normally decorate for Christmas on Thanksgiving night or the day after, this year we didn't decorate until a week before and instead of going all out, we only put a tree up. And I didn't even touch my Powersheets or planner until late in the month, I was just too sick.

December progress:

♦ Faith: I read the Bible each day and did my Write the Word journal most days. I did not, however, do my advent study or devotional book. So while I stayed in the Word, I didn't hit all of my goals.

♦ Marriage: My husband and I did not get any date time, since we were sick and quarantined. 

♦ Family: We had planned to do a family scavenger hunt as an outing with our kids (they are all adults), but with the virus, we had to cancel. We did have a nice Christmas Eve and Christmas morning together!

♦ Home: I had hoped to do some painting in the house, again that had to be canceled because we were too sick.

♦ Ministry: I did some blog work and worked on the Woman to Woman Bible reading plan for 2021. As for church, my husband and I stepped down from our church (he was the associate pastor and I was the children's pastor). We are currently waiting on God for direction.

♦ Health: My health was poor in December! Mercy that virus got me good! I did take vitamins and drink lots of water, but I did not take any walks.

On to January! Many of my main goals are the same. I will always work on my faith, marriage, family, home, ministry, and health. My actions steps, however, may change from month to month.

January goals:

♦ Faith: My faith journey is my biggest goal this year. I will share more of the why and how tomorrow on the blog, so be sure to come back! My daily action steps are my quiet time and Write the Word journal, I do these each morning.

♦ Marriage: My husband and I will go on one or two dinner (or Saturday lunch) dates. My husband purchased a Nintendo (an original early 1980s Nintendo with the very first ever Mario Brothers games!) and we love spending quiet evenings playing together. It is a fun way to connect and laugh.

♦ Family: We still want to do our family scavenger hunt, but due to our kids' work schedules, I still have to figure out when. My daughter and son in law move this month, as does my son (he is moving from our home to his first home that he will share with his soon to be wife later this year after the wedding!) so this month is going to be very busy for us moving two households. Now that we will have two of our kids no longer living at home, I am hoping to set a night of the week that everyone comes over so that we can still have family dinner together.

♦ Home: I still really want to paint! Depending on how my kids' moves go, this will happen this month or next.

♦ Ministry: I will continue to work on the blog, Woman to Woman, and make plans for a special project that I will share very soon! As for our church ministries, my husband and I are in prayer and seeking God's guidance for our next home church and ministries.

♦ Health: I really do not care about weight loss, however, I want to feel better. I want more energy and to sleep better. I know that drinking more water, eating more veggies, and being more consistent with my vitamins will help. My daily action steps are to drink a green smoothie each morning, take my vitamins every morning, and drink at least 60 ounces of water every day. I do these things, but haven't been super consistent. Consistency is what I want to work on.

♦ Piano: Last year I set a goal of getting back to playing piano. I had really hoped that with a little practice, what I learned as a teenager would come back. Wrong. I don't remember much at all. I am working on a plan for the piano but due to my kids' moves this month, I am going to hold off until next month.

There you have it! Those are my goals and action steps for this month. What are you working on this month?

Powersheets are helping me cultivate what is important to me. To get your Powersheets, click below!

Open for His Plans

The New Year is upon us.  Less than 48 hours away.  


Are you ready for what God has planned for you?  


Are you open to the newness of the year?


I firmly believe God has big plans for His children in 2012.  But we have to be open minded and have a open heart.  We have to be ready.  Ready for something big.


Has God already revealed to you His plan for your life in 2012?  Has He already directed you?  Don't be afraid.  Don't be shy.  Be open.  When we obey and follow His will, we are blessed beyond measure.


"...to obey is better than sacrifice..."  1 Samuel 15:22


In these last hours of 2011, spend some time in prayer.  Ask God to help you be open to new possibilities and new opportunities.  Then be ready for Him to bless your socks off!


Have a safe and blessed celebration, friends!


Sweet Blessings~


If you would like to start the New Year off with some encouragement, you can join us on Facebook or Twitter for encouraging posts throughout the day.  You can also subscribe to this blog and each article will come straight to your inbox!  If you would like prayer for the New Year or anything at all, please email me at metzgersix@gmail.com


Linking with:
Brag on God Friday
Five Minute Friday

A Look Back and Looking Ahead

I am amazed at how fast time flies. When I look at my children it just floors me how quickly they grow up.  This year we began a new phase of life, raising a teenager.  I can hear you chuckling, stop it. 2012 brings us to yet another teenager, (you are laughing again, I can hear you!), a preteen and it will be the last year we have a child in the single digits.  Goodness, where did the time go!?  2012 is days away!

Last year I did a week long series on preparing for 2011.  This week I looked back over the series.  (This is one of the many things I love about blogging, it is like a journal that I can go back over.)  We talked about:

Preparing for 2011

Preparing Your Marriage for 2011

Preparing Your Children for 2011

and

Preparing Your Attitude for 2011

I am not one for setting New Year's resolutions.  They seem made just to be broken.  But I do think this time of year is a great time to evaluate your life and see where you can improve.

How can we prepare ourselves for 2012?

Look back over your relationship with Christ over the past year.  We all have room for improvement.  We will never "arrive" in this area this side of Heaven. So what can you do to become closer to God in the new year?  Have your quiet times with God been consistent?  Are your prayers one sided, are you listening to Him as much as talking to Him?  Spend time praying and thinking about this area and how you can improve.

Think about your marriage in 2011.  Did you and your spouse date each other?  Did you spend time in prayer together, did you pray for your spouse each day? Do you need to work on listening to your spouse more?  Have you done little random acts to show your love, such as love notes, or a spontaneous text saying how great he/she is?  Think about how you can work more on your marriage in the new year.

Look at your parenting and relationship with your children from the past year.  Did you speak kindly to your kids and give them eye contact?  Did you pray for them, read the Bible with them or encourage them to read?  Did you spend real quality time with them?  Pray and talk to your spouse about this area, if you're brave (smiles), ask for their constructive criticism on how you can improve.

One area my husband and I have felt like we have been lacking in is service.  How did you serve others in 2011?  Like us, do you need to improve in this area?  We talked with our pastor recently about serving others when finances do not always allow.  His suggestion was this, start small.  Take five dollars a week out of a paycheck (or $2 or $3, whatever you can).  That is a small amount that your will likely not notice missing.  You can use that five dollars to bless someone small that week, such as coffee, a hamburger, or gallon of milk.  Or you can save the money each week and after a month or two you will have enough to buy gas or groceries for someone.  Service does not always have to be monetary.  Do little random acts of kindness such as raking leaves, mowing a lawn, or babysitting for no charge.  How was your service in 2011?  How can you improve?

Friends, I greatly encourage you to spend some time this week alone and/or with your spouse and evaluate these areas and any others God brings to your mind.  Where can you improve?  We all have room for improvement!

"See, I am doing a new thing!

   Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? 
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland."
Isaiah 43:19

God is doing something new.  Something fresh.  I can feel it friends!  I know He has big plans for us in this coming year.  Are you ready?  Are you really ready?  Get excited!  I know I am!  This week I am evaluating my life in preparation for the new year and God's plans.  I am looking forward to seeing what He has in store.

After you have evaluated your year and make plans for the new year, if you would like prayer, please feel free to email me.  I would love to lift you in prayer. metzgersix@gmail.com 

~~

I want to share with you all some exciting things going on in 2012.  

I was approached a couple of months ago by the Gabby Moms.  The Gabby Moms are a group of blogging women who review products for Eternal Encouragement magazine, formally Teach Magazine.  So each month look for a review of some great Christian products.  

I read a blog once that mentioned the Bible in 90 Days program.  Ever since then I have, for several reasons, wanted to do it.  It is a big challenge, but I am so excited to read the Bible in only 90 days.  I have asked my accountability girls to really help me and pray for me in this. I started this reading plan this past Monday and I have already been greatly blessed.  If you are looking for a big challenge in Bible reading, check it out!

Woman to Woman Ministries has some exciting things coming up in 2012.  I won't give away more than that yet, so stay tuned!  

I pray that each of you have a safe, happy and blessed New Year.  I cannot begin to tell you how blessed I am to have "meet" each of you via the bloggy world.

Sweet Blessings~

Linking with:

Proverbs 31 Thursday

Grace Cafe